Ever since I lost an engine to a stuck thermostat I've wanted some way to keep a closer eye on engine stats and sensor output. I built a tool that reads data from the PowerFC via the Datalogit hardware and logs it. This data can be uploaded so others can view engine stats in real time without being in the car, and so that engine data can be viewed later and correlated with location, time, etc. It pairs with a phone (bluetooth) to handle data uploading, and can output a dashboard of configurable gauges to an in-car display (like a double din stereo with an an HDMI/component input).

I'm wondering if there's any interest in the community for this kind of a tool, beyond my own tinkering? I've definitely found it helpful, and it's been a fun project.

It does a bunch of stuff:

• Logs all sensor output and ECM data up to 10x per second and saves it for later viewing
• Provides a dashboard of any sensor, with a historical graph of sensor data
• Correlates time and GPS location data to each ECM data point
• Real time ECM output viewing of any sensor or input
• Warning indicators when thresholds are crossed (e.g. 8000 RPM, 215º water temp, etc.)
• Automatic sensor checks at start-up, and warnings when sensor values are out of range

It's still a work in progress, but here's a video of the dashboard when I was mostly idling in the garage (ignore the whine from the air leak please! I'll fix it...)

 

Wow that's awesome!

Yeah, I definitely think this is something folks would be interested in. I assume this interprets the stream coming from the serial port of the Datalogit?

Dale

 

 

There is a guy from South Africa who is making a dashboard screen output for info like this. His post is on the RX7Club forums in the Power-FC section.

 

Yeah exactly, might work with the FC Hako also, and even in other cars with an Apexi ECM with a little modification.

The datalogit pipes the data into a small computer installed in the car (I'm working with a raspberrypi at the moment), which can display the in-car gauge display and forward the data to mobile apps using bluetooth. The PowerFC serial interface is pretty well defined, but all the tools I found to interact with it were either outdated or served a different purpose (like the Raspexi project).

I'll post more details and pictures as I get stuff done

 

Yes, that's the Raspexi project. It's pretty cool, and has a few advantages over my project such as the speed it can process data, but it serves a different purpose. That's meant to be the entire HUD complete with speedo and tach, whereas mine is more of a tool for monitoring secondary sensors and data as well as data logging, and most importantly as a "life support" tool to warn you when something is wrong beyond what a check engine light can do with this ECM. Mine was designed to be a second screen, since I didn't want/need anything to replace my gauge cluster. It's optimized for a 7" double din stereo screen

 

This is some goooood stuff.

 

Can the graph be eliminated and just show numbers at a higher speed rate ? This should be pretty awsome . Should be able to intergrad into a double din dvd display ?

 

 

The graph actually has less of an impact than you'd think. Logging the data is the big factor, but once you get far under 100ms intervals (10 times per second) you start running into bandwidth issues with the Datalogit and/or PowerFC. Maybe if I cut out sensor requests or something it could update faster. I'll look into it, but 10x per second is still pretty quick right now. It may have been set to 250ms in the video, but also the datapoints are not changing that quickly so it appears still. If I revved the engine a bunch you'd see some rapid changes

 

Depends. I've got it integrated with iOS to sync the GPS location and to upload the data stream (later), but the display there is ugly because I've spent no time on it. No Android support yet, but if there's demand I could look into it. With an iPhone or iPad in the car you won't actually need a display hooked up to the mini-computer. Everything can be viewed on the iPhone/iPad. I'm working on the in-car screen support first since I don't want to mount an iPad in my car, personally.

 

FYI, a number of years ago I tested and found a substantial difference in USB to serial converters. There are different chipsets running them and I found that having a crap one the sampling rate was literally HALF of a good one.

I'm 90% sure this is the good one that I've had luck with -


In other words all USB-serial adapters aren't made the same. For many of the applications they are sold for the speed isn't a big deal.

Dale

 

This is pretty cool, there's a lot of guys that still run PFC's in vehicles that see driving events regularly. Programmable warning lights, maybe with an audible buzzer if you could code it, would be fantastic. I know the PFC has a provision to use a dash light in JDM cars as a warning light but with USDM cars we're unable to use that provision without adding a wire to the ECU connector and installing a light. The logging without lugging around a laptop would be nice as well.

 

I did a writeup a while back to make the Check Engine light on the cluster light up when the PFC outputs a warning. I think it's in the PFC forum somewhere, that was a LONG time ago. Not too hard of a mod to do either.

The JDM cars had the exhaust overheat warning light up on the cluster idiot lights not down on the armrest like in the US.

Dale

 

Yep, that's what I was referring to!

 

This is a good point.

 

Wow. I'm always impressed at what an enthusiast will do with some research. Very nice job there!

If you're allowing for an output to a 7" double din, is it via yellow cable or something more interesting? I figure it will be configurable at some point considering you are using a Raspberry Pi.

 

Couple things about the display:

• It's optional. You could install the mini-computer without a display hooked up and still receive and view logs on an iPhone/iPad
• I'm currently working with a RaspberryPi which supports HDMI and the old yellow video cable, but I might need faster hardware so we'll see
• It's optimized for more compact screen sizes in the 6-7" ballpark but it will scale to any size

I built it for personal use but someone told me I should sell a kit, hence this thread... trying to see if it's worth my time to finish out more of these features and build out a kit. I'll post more pictures and info about it in the next few days

 

I'm in!

 

Interested.

 

interested

 

Ill be interested and willing to buy 2 if its PNP from PFC to double din display via hdmi/yellow cable

 

 

Survey completed & definitely interested.